Cheers to the holiday spirit

4 Fort Worth bars shake up the holidays with naughty and nice pop-ups

Fort Worth bars are pouring on the spirit for the holidays in 2021, with four bars hosting temporary installations featuring a Christmas-y theme.

Themed pop-ups have been a local bar trend for a couple of years, but the trend has boomed with Christmas pop-ups (like these four in Dallas). It's no longer enough to do a minty martini, you gotta do a pop-up, and that means holiday decor which can provide a backdrop for photos — or even a rooftop "bubble bar" igloo.

Here are four Fort Worth bars where you can get lit with some souped-up Christmas cheer:

Holly-Daze! by Proper on Magnolia
The locally owned craft cocktail bar has transformed into a holiday haven, inside and out. Find a quiet table inside, underneath the sparkly garlands, trees, and hanging ornaments — or head outside to the recently redone patio (outfitted with festive decor and heaters for chilly December nights).

It'll take a few visits to sip all the way through Proper's newly created Christmas drink menu. Start with a Christmas Vacation (gin, passion fruit, cranberry, lemon, soda); a Holly Jolly Sh%t Show (vodka, pomegranate, lemon, maple, orange, spiced tea); or Milk & Cookies (vodka, caramel, white chcolate, demarara, coffee). Order a round of shots like the Hans Bubby (marula cream, brandy, frangelico, allspice dram). Then finish strong with The 3 Wise Women (rye whiskey, brandy, applejack, 5 spice, ginger, rosemary) or Yippee-Ki-Ay, Mother Plucker... (Christmas whiskey, amaro, orange, clove).

The holiday cocktails come in festive glassware, which is for sale. Need an ugly sweater in a pinch? They're for sale, too.

The pop-up will continue through Christmas Eve, December 24.

Miracle at Nickel City
A nationwide Christmas cocktail tradition has returned to Fort Worth's Nickel City bar in all its festive glory. First started in New York in 2014 by bar owner Greg Boehm, Miracle takes over 100 bars nationwide, unwrapping festive holiday decor and holiday-themed drinks through the end of the year.

Nickel City Fort Worth’s Miracle promises to get Christmas lovers feeling good “from mistletoe to toe” with a sleigh full of holiday drink specials, including the Elfing Around (prosecco, gin, mulled wine reduction, grapefruit shrub, bitters) and updated recipes for drinks such as the Jolly Koala, On Dasher, and SanTaRex. The Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r — with Appleton Estate Signature Blend Rum, Plantation Xamayca and O.F.T.D., Rhum JM Blanc, purple ube and coconut orgeat, angostura bitters, pineapple, lime, mint, and powdered sugar — will surely make you feel welcome at the party, pal.

Drinks are served in festive holiday glassware, some of which are for sale, and 10 percent of proceeds are donated to the James Beard Foundation’s Open for Good campaign that benefits independent restaurants. The pop-up runs through December 31.

Santa Baby at Landmark Bar & Kitchen
This immersive Christmas pop-up hosted at Landmark Bar & Kitchen in Fort Worth’s West 7th Entertainment District features more than 10,000 square feet of over-the-top Christmas décor, including snow, lights, and more than 40 Santa Clauses.

Admission is free and a portion of the sales up will benefit Toys for Tots. All ages are welcome until 9 pm, and then it's 21 and up until 2 am. The big man himself will be in the building every Thursday-Saturday from 8-11 pm.

Seasonal cocktails include Abuelita's Cocoa (Kahlua, Bailey's, chocolate syrup, heavy cream, spices) and Butterbrew (Smirnoff whipped cream vodka, Butterscotch Schnapp's, horchata liqueur). There are mimosa flights, festive treats, and a s'mores kits, too.

Reservations are recommended for parties larger than six. The pop-up runs through December 29.

Very Merry Elfsmas Christmas pop-up at Curfew Bar
Drawing inspiration from Buddy the Elf, the downtown Fort Worth subterranean bar has decked its halls for the holidays. They're doing drink specials, pizza, and tableside s’mores all month.

Get "elf'd up" on the limited-edition minty, creamy “Let it Snow!” cocktail, frozen hot chocolate, or $5 White Russians. Santa's around occasionally for pictures, too. Pop in for Christmas cheer daily until 2 am, through the end of the month.

Teresa Gubbins and Eric Sandler contributed to this story.

Miracle cocktails are served in festive glassware.

Facebook/Nickel City

Miracle cocktails are served in festive glassware.

cocktails holidays

Chef News

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center welcomes bright new chef

FortWorthtx.gov

Will Rogers Memorial Center

There's a new chef in town: Waylon Cornelius, named executive chef of catering and concessions for Craft Culinary Concepts, the food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Will Rogers Memorial Center is the 120-acre entertainment complex anchoring Fort Worth’s Cultural District, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Cornelius will oversee menus for trade shows and other events at the center which bring in more than 2 million visitors a year.

Craft Culinary Concepts is headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, and manages food and beverage programs for entertainment, sports and cultural facilities.

Chef Waylon Corneliusfortworthtx.gov

According to a release, Cornelius joined the team this summer and is already shifting the expectations of guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare satisfying every kind of palate.

“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust,” Cornelius says in a statement.

For consumer trade shows, Craft and its partners Caribou and Taco Heads offer more choices for the thousands of guests who attend events at WRMC annually.

“Some of our equestrian guests are away from home and here for several days, and they need more than popcorn and hot dogs,” Cornelius says. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”

A native of Mansfield, Cornelius grew up helping in a farm-to-table kitchen. He was raised on a farm with his mother, grandmother, and grandfather -- a Vietnam veteran who enjoyed vegetable gardens and raising hogs and chickens. He studied computer science after high school and holds an associate's degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.

He's a 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas where he was mentored by a number of great chefs. While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he worked with Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa, chef Eric Dreyer (who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef), and Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, under whom he honed his French cooking skills.

As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius gained expertise with volume. While at HG Sply Co., he learned about gluten-free items and other food allergies.

HG Sply is also where he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III, Craft’s general manager at WRMC, who recruited Cornelius to the complex.

"James said he needed someone who can hit moving targets, push the culinary team to be more avant-garde and use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, so here I am," Cornelius says. "Culinary is a small world."

“I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!’” Schell says. “Even the celebrities who perform [in the auditorium] are surprised. When Chicago played here recently and we served dinner backstage, they said they felt treated like the Rolling Stones.”

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